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Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) is a group of former officers of the United States Intelligence Community. It was formed in January 2003 to protest the use of faulty intelligence to justify that year's US-led invasion of Iraq, in which several European nations also participated. The group issued a letter before the 2003 invasion of Iraq stating that intelligence analysts were not being listened to by policy makers. Initially the group numbered 25, mostly retired analysts.

February 2003 memo

On February 7, 2003, VIPS released a "Memorandum for The President" criticizing Secretary Powell's speech before the United Nations and stating that VIPS was afraid Saddam Hussein would use his chemical weapons against U.S. troops if the U.S. invaded. In May, 2003, The New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof said that widespread outrage among intelligence professionals had led to the establishment of VIPS. After the CIA chief weapons inspector David Kay in 2004 announced no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction could be found in Iraq, Michael W. Robbins opined in the magazine Mother Jones: The group, "Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity," has produced some of the most credible, and critical, analyses of the Bush Administration's handling of intelligence data in the run-up to the March, 2003 invasion of Iraq.

August 2010 memo

On August 3, 2010, VIPS publicly released another "MEMORANDUM FOR: The President" claiming that the government of Israel has a record of deceiving the United States Government and estimated that Israel would unilaterally attack Iran "as early as this month.".

August 2013 memo

After the Ghouta chemical attack VIPS issued an "open letter" to President Obama claiming that their "co-workers" and "numerous sources in the Middle East" have informed them that Bashar al-Assad was not responsible for the attack, contrary to the position of the US government and foreign intelligence agencies. However, when asked about the identity of their sources, the group's report turned out to be based on an article from a conspiracy website "Global Research" and, Infowars, the radio show of the far right commentator and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

July 2017 memo

On July 24, 2017, VIPS released a memorandum for President Donald Trump that stated its doubt that the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak was the result of a Russian hack.

See also

• National Security Whistleblowers Coalition

References

1. "FOXNews.com - Ex-CIA Accuse Bush of Manipulating Iraq Evidence - Politics - Republican Party - Democratic Party - Political Spectrum".
2. "Save Our Spooks". The New York Times. 30 May 2003.
3. Michael W. Robbins, The Skeptical Spy, Mother Jones, March 10, 2004.
4. Lahav Harkov, Obama misplaced trust in Netanyahu, Jerusalem Post, August 5, 2010.
5. Dana Karni, Will Israel Bomb Iran This Month? Archived August 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Fox News, August 5, 2010.
7. Lawrence, Patrick (2017-08-10). "A New Report Raises Big Questions About Last Year's DNC Hack". The Nation. Retrieved 2017-08-11.

• Political advocacy groups in the United States
• American intelligence analysts
• Organizations established in 2003
• Anti–Iraq War groups